The prestigious annual Rose D'Or Awards (now in their 55th year) honour the very best of international radio, TV and online entertainment programmes, and the awards ceremony took place last night (Tuesday, September 13th 2016). Over 400 programmes from more than 130 broadcasters and production companies in 33 different countries were submitted for this year’s Rose d’Or awards. For the first time, a new competition category, 'Radio Event Of The Year' was created. We entered European Dawn Chorus in this category, and we're absolutely delighted to let you know that ... drumroll... WE WON!!! We're absolutely thrilled to pieces, and a massive thanks to all our EBU and BirdLife International partners, we couldn't have done it without you! Click here to read more about the 2016 Rose D'Or awards (in which legendary funnyman John Cleese picked up the Lifetime Achievement award), and click here to relive - and re-listen to - all the beautiful Dawn Chorus birdsong from right across Europe.

***STOP PRESS*** Dawn Chorus Picks Up Another Award!

We're thrilled to let you know that on Friday, October 7th, the Dawn Chorus won the Innovation Award at the PPI Radio Awards in Kilkenny!

On Mooney today...

We get more of your reaction to our item on the do's and don'ts of using dating websites, three listeners play Mooney's Tuesday Quiz to win a weekend break to the Galway Bay Hotel, and The Celtic Tenors join us for a chat and a song before they start their Irish tour next month!

Follow-Up: Online Dating

On yesterday's show, we spoke to Lisa Wallace about the perils of online dating, and how honesty and truth are the first casualties in this activity. It was an item elicited quite a response, with the e-mails and texts flooding in!

This afternoon, we talk to one of our listeners, Eleanor, about her experience of dating which was memorable but for all the wrong reasons...

Mooney's Tuesday Quiz

It's Mooney, it’s Tuesday, so it must be time for our Mooney's Tuesday Quiz! And we have a fantastic prize up for grabs today! It's a two-night weekend break for two people sharing one room in the Galway Bay Hotel on the Salthill Promenade in Galway.

Your prize includes breakfast on both mornings and a four-course dinner for two on a night of your choice in their award-winning Lobster Pot Restaurant with views over Galway Bay.

You can also choose to avail of any of the hotel’s free activities such as wine tasting, indoor bowls, dancing and beauty demonstrations. Runners-up today will get a copy of Eric Dempsey's new book Finding Birds in Ireland: The Complete Guide, 2nd Edition – and everyone who takes part in the quiz will get a Mooney PRIDE watch.

The Celtic Tenors

It’s a World Cup year again. And this year, Brazil will host all of the matches of World Cup, 2014.

But 24 years ago, it was Italy’s turn. And we all remember the Irish performances at Italia '90. They really had the nation united in joy, under the stewardship of the legendary Jack Charlton.

But Italia ’90 also featured the first performances of another supergroup. The very first "Three Tenors", in the form of Plácido Domingo , José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. And in the intervening decade and a half, this three-voice format has become extremely popular around the world.

Daryl Simpson, James Nelson and Matthew Gilsenan

With me now are the finest Irish proponents of the three-tenor style. Appropriately called The Celtic Tenors, they are James Nelson, Matthew Gilsenan and Daryl Simpson.

Thousands of you listening will have already seen them live in concert - they have been on the go for the last 15 years, during which they have released eleven albums over those years! And we are delighted that James, Matthew and Daryl join us in studio this afternoon for a chat and to perform their version of Tom Baxter's Better.

This week, Mooney will be supporting the Ballyduff Drama Group, from Co. Waterford, at the All Ireland Drama Festival. They will be performing The Curse Of The Starving Class by Sam Shepard.

Rehearsals for the Ballyduff Drama Group production of 'The Curse Of The Starving Class'

For the first time in the Festival’s 62-year career, a carefully-devised mentor scheme pairs nine of RTÉ’s well-known faces and voices with this year’s finalists. Each mentor will offer support to their respective drama group, in the hope that it will be the one to perform the winning play in front of the thousands of visitors the Festival attracts. The nine mentors are; Miriam O’Callaghan, Derek Mooney, John Murray, Damien O’Reilly, Ronan Collins, Joe Duffy, Mary Wilson, Seán O’Rourke and Seán Rocks.

The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival was founded in 1952, and is one of the most prestigious event of its kind in the country. Nine finalists, representing Kildare, Tipperary, Waterford, Leitrim, Donegal and Waterford, will showcase their productions on stage in the Dean Crowe Theatre & Arts Centre in Athlone. Ballyduff Drama Group's date of presentation is this Thursday, May 1st.

Mooney's Money

We've €1,000 to give away today to save or spend as you please, take a break from your bills, or a make a break to the sun, it's up to you!

For your chance to win the cash, answer the following competition question:

Tuesday, April 29th 2014

True or false: Clonmel, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir are towns in Tipperary?

If you think you know the answer, call or text the competition line:

ROI: 1515 71 72 00

NI: 0901 293 3501

text MOONEY followed by your answer and name to 57111 (NI and ROI)

Each text entry costs €1 (incl VAT) or GBP £1.00. Calls from the eircom network will cost €1.02 (incl VAT) and from a BT landline will cost GBP £1.02. Calls from other networks and from mobiles will cost more.

Please note, the person named in the entry must be aged 18 years or older as at date of entry.

Competition lines open from 2pm and will close at 4.20pm today, (29/04/14). Please do not enter outside of the advertised competition window as you will be charged for your entry, but your entry will not be included. From time to time, these open/close times may vary. Any change to the standard open/close times will be announced here and on the show. The cash prize winner will be announced on-air towards the end of the Mooney show each day.

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Call Service Provider: Phonovation. Tel: 0818 217 100.

Text Service Provider: Oxygen8/Xiam Interactive. Tel: 0818 444 433

Please do not enter outside the advertised competition open and close times and date(s) as you will be charged, but your entry will not be included in the draw. Please do not enter during programme replays on the RTÉ Radio Player after the advertised close time and date as you will be charged for your entry, but your entry will not be included as the competition will have closed.

Entrants must be aged 18 years or older as at date of entry and a resident of the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland in order to qualify as the prize winner.

Promoter reserves the right to request proof of age, verifiable by birth cert or passport only, and proof of residency, verifiable by recent utility bill only (issued within 6 months of win).

1 x Mooney's Money prize winners will win a €1,000 cash prize. (All cash prizes issued to the winner by euro cheque, made payable to the winner, allow 28 working days for delivery).

By entering the competition, the participants agree to be bound by the terms and conditions; that their surname and county of residence may be announced on-air if they win a prize; and agree to have their details/image/winner sequence used for promotional purposes if required.

Employees of RTÉ, Phonovation, Xiam Interactive and their associated partners, companies or suppliers and their immediate family members are not eligible to win/enter.

RTÉ's decision in relation to selection of winner is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Mooney Tunes 10

Can you believe it? It's Mooney Tunes time again, and astonishingly, we are approaching our tenth concert!

It all started in September 2009, at the National Concert Hall. The very first Mooney Tunes featured music such as Send In The Clowns, The Anvil Chorus and even the theme from Hawaii Five-O.

Over the last nine concerts, there hasn't been any genre of music we haven't covered. We've done a lot of classical favourites, we've had arias and choruses from some of the greatest operas ever written.

In the last concert, Mooney Tunes 9 in December last year, we did some incredible jazz, like Jack L singing My Way, and the big band orchestra performing Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman.

We've had pop, traditional Irish, even country music - Daniel O'Donnell went down a treat at Mooney Tunes 7!

All in all, over the nine concerts so far, we have brought you a total of 152 pieces of music. They were performed by some of the cream of Irish and international talent, accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Everybody from sopranos Cara O'Sullivan and Claudia Boyle, tenor Paul Potts, baritone John Molloy have performed. We've had Brian Kennedy, Jerry Fish, Chloe Agnew, John Sheehan from the Dubliners. We also did a special Eurovision tribute, with Niamh Kavanagh, Linda Martin, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan.

Anyway, the good news is, we want to bring you another gem of a show. And, since it's our 10th concert, we've decided to a kind of "best of".

We would like you, our listeners, to tell us your favourite moments from the last nine shows. Now, you don't have to have been to the shows to nominate a favourite moment. All of the concerts have been broadcast on RTÉ Radio One shortly after the live performances.

And to help, here's a list of every single piece of music that we have featured!

Mooney Tunes 10 will take place on Friday, June 13th at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre at 8pm. Tickets will go on sale the program is finalised. We want people to nominate from the list of tunes on the website. And we may even include a couple of surprises. It will be the middle of the summer, so why not think of some of your summer favourites!? E-mail mooney@rte.ie, with the subject line 'Mooney Tunes 10'!

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Nathan Carter House Party!

How would you fancy a little bit of country star Nathan Carter in the front room of your house? The really good news is Nathan Carter has agreed to do a house party for a Mooney listener anywhere in the country on Tuesday, May 13th.

That's the one and only Nathan Carter, who topped the Irish charts despite stiff competition from international artists including Kodaline & One Direction, and who will play for one lucky listener. In our Mooney House Party shows, top Irish entertainers come into your home and sing exclusively for you, your friends and family.

They have been tremendously success with entertainers such as Brian Kennedy, The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur, Paul Harington, Jack L and Daniel O'Donnell! Our singers have performed in a listener's kitchen, front room and even in a barn.

Well if you fancy the wonderfully talented Nathan Carter in your home, all you have to do is e-mail Mooney and tell us why you want Nathan with you? Are you his number one fan? Have you travelled the lent and breath of the country to see him sing? Have you a special anniversary or celebration coming up? Or simply, would you just like a knees up in your own home?

Whatever the reason, e-mail mooney@rte.ie and tell us why you want Nathan there and who you’d have there, and why you deserve to have him - and don’t forget to give us your phone number!

The date again is Tuesday, May 13th - so get in touch now!

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National Dawn Chorus Day

National Dawn Chorus Day will take part on Sunday, May 18th 2014. If you are part of a group who will be taking part in a Dawn Chorus event in your local area, and want to register your event with us, please send full details - name, contact number, what will be happening and where, to mooney@rte.ie, with the subject line 'Dawn Chorus 2014'. And who knows, we may contact you during our Dawn Chorus broadcast!

Where will you be on National Dawn Chorus Day?

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Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.

UPDATE: February 29th 2016 - Press Release From BirdWatch Ireland:

Putting the record straight: Dates for burning and hedge-cutting have NOT changed

BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland’s largest conservation charity, is very concerned about misinformation that is currently circulating regarding the dates within which the burning of vegetation and cutting of hedges is permitted. It would like to remind landowners that all burning and cutting must cease on 29th February this year and that burning and cutting remains prohibited from 1st March to 31st August.

Despite attempts by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., to change the laws regulating these dates by introducing the Heritage Bill 2016 earlier this year, it is important to note that the proposed date changes were ultimately NOT made. This is because the bill failed to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas before the recent dissolution of the Dáil in advance of the general election.

The laws in place governing the dates for hedge-cutting and upland burning therefore remain unchanged. The period within which cutting and burning is prohibited are set down in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 (as amended in 2000), which states that:

(a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection (above).

The existing law provides exemptions for road safety and other circumstances and should be read carefully to ensure compliance.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act exists to protect nesting birds. Many of our upland bird species are in decline and are in danger of extinction in Ireland; amongst them is the Curlew, which has declined by 80%. Many birds which nest in hedgerows into August are also in serious decline, including the endangered Yellowhammer. The changes to the cutting and burning dates which had been proposed in the now-defunct Heritage Bill 2016 would have caused serious impacts to these birds. A petition launched by BirdWatch Ireland in conjunction with several other national conservation organisations to stop these changes attracted more than 16,200 signatures and rising.

BirdWatch Ireland would also like to advise members of the public that if they see hedges being cut or fires in the uplands on or after 1st March, such activity could be illegal. In such cases, we would encourage people to contact the National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.ie) to report such activity.

BirdWatch Ireland warmly welcomes the demise of the Heritage Bill 2016 and sincerely hopes that any future administration will consider the importance of Ireland’s natural heritage and will not attempt to reintroduce such a flawed and damaging piece of legislation.

RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster.RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Images courtesy of Inpho.ie and Getty Images.